According to a new report out of Sweden, the answer may be no.
Sigh. Can't you just hear the backlash? The ugly comparisons to the odious Miranda Priestly of "The Devil Wears Prada" fame? The rousing chorus of "I told you so"?
Sorry, folks, but we don't buy it. What we think this report speaks to is not what women may be doing wrong -- but to the roadblocks, both culturally and structurally, that still stand in our way.
The study, from the Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation (IFAU) and the Uppsala Center for Labor Studies (UCLS) at Uppsala University, suggests that women managers are no more likely to eradicate the wage gap as their male counterparts, nor are they likely to hire more women. According to Science Daily:
...economist Lena Hensvik found no support for the claim that female managers entail any benefit for women in connection with wage setting. The study encompassed all of the public sector workplaces and a representative selection of private sector workplaces in Sweden during the years 1996-2008."At the first stage, I found that women with female managers receive higher salaries," she says. "But when I went further and considered individuals who had had both male and female managers and how salary varies with manager gender, I found no significant difference between working for a woman and working for a man. Any differences appear to be tied to the individuals, not their managers."
... But do women employ more women? Lena Hensvik asserts that there is no evidence that they do.
To help figure it out, we talked to communication scholar Laura Ellingson, director of Women & Gender Studies at Santa Clara University. She says it's all about the questions that are not asked as opposed to the ones that are. Bingo. That's a conclusion we will buy.
When it comes to the wage gap, Ellingson points out, it's been well-documented that men and women negotiate differently when it comes to salary. "That is, men tend to negotiate once they receive an offer, while women tend to accept what they are offered. Hence, even when made identical offers for the same job, men tend to begin at a somewhat higher salary, a gap which widens over time. One might say that women should simply negotiate, but this is a very problematic piece of advice, since women who do negotiate are perceived quite negatively by managers if they use the same type of tactics that men use."
It's a classic double bind -- cue Miranda Priestly once again: Women who are assertive score low on the likability scale. We're seen as arrogant, or worse yet, ambitious. But if we don't speak up, we get paid less. All of which is infuriating, Ellingson tells us. "They tell women not to 'toot their own horns' from infancy on, leading us to try hard NOT to stand out, and then they ask why we don't advocate better for ourselves."
What's more, Ellingson says, when it comes to hiring decisions, female managers are still operating in a workplace skewed toward masculine interests, masculine styles of communication, and masculine goals, so the idea that they would naturally hire more women per se, is a ridiculous assumption. "So I guess I just don't grant the premise of [Lena Hensvik's report] in asking that question. Here's what I would ask instead: what types of pressures are subtly communicated to female managers -- by subordinates and supervisors -- that are not communicated to male managers? Change the question, change the answer."
Something else to consider: the cultural differences between Sweden and, certainly, the U.S. (Not to mention the pay gap itself. It's on average 8 percent in Sweden; 20 percent here.) For insight, we turned to intercultural communication professor Charlotta Kratz, a native Swede who has been teaching in California universities since the 1990s. She says those differences are not to be underestimated. According to Kratz, the experience of being a woman is of public interest in her country, which has led to a number of gender-equalizing structures throughout Swedish society. When we asked her about this particular report, she told us: "I would guess that the reason that there isn't a bigger female 'effect' in Sweden is that the whole system is more female oriented. Swedish society is far more sensitive to gender issues in general compared to the U.S., meaning that Swedish men make different choices than American men." In other words, she says, there would be less of a difference between men and women in Sweden than there would be here in the U.S.
All of which brings us back to that issue of asking the right question. Or, as feminist icon Gloria Steinem once said: "Don't think about making women fit the world-think about making the world fit women." It's not a question of whether our lady bosses have our backs -- but whether the workplace itself is receptive to change.
Follow Barbara & Shannon Kelley on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@undecidedbook
Well, I been happily married for almost 30 yrs to a women that ahs been only a house wife. I have someone to grow old with.....She devorced her husband after only 10ish yrs of marrige. She 50 and still single with all her $ and mom and dad, and no brother in her life (I'm her only brother). I'm 51, and my wife and I raised 2 great kids.
So to all those women out there......is it worth it?
I know guys back stab, but I don't think it's near as bad as women do.
We are EQUALS. ACT like it and the kudos are there!
HAVE YOUR BACK? No, It's more likely they will have your scalp! I often wonder how men put up with women at home. Give me a workplace full of men or a male boss ANY day.
And yes, I'm a woman.
Numbers of Entries on Search-Return Lists
Date Women's
Studies Men's
Studies Women's
Studies
Program Men's
Studies
Program
2006 08 28 24,100,000 602,000 340,000 686
2006 09 14 11,500,000 398,000 330,000 636
2007 03 24 2,770,000 296,000 269,000 594
2007 04 11 2,570,000 275,000 261,000 1,110
2007 07 14 2,160,000 465,000 238,000 1,060
2007 08 13 7,580,000 675,000 239,000 1,080
2007 10 09 6,030,000 409,000 68,200 919
2007 11 25 2,300,000 388,000 77,000 69
2007 12 30 6,200,000 561,000 73,600 58
2008 02 12 5,900,000 607,000 76,000 57
2008 05 26 8,270,000 3,390,000 87,700 691
2008 07 14 6,960,000 526,000 87,800 536
2008 09 08 8,100,000 503,000 101,000 661
2008 10 12 8,040,000 492,000 90,400 542
2008 11 07 7,120,000 312,000 85,500 586
2008 12 08 6,470,000 352,000 91,800 661
2010 06 17 5,280,000 136,000 135,000 74,400
2010 12 27 13,200,000 632,000 305,000 28,900
2011 04 24 4,650,000 170,000 288,000 29,300
2011 07 22 16,700,000 777,000 281,000 40,200